I'm not worried about my retirement (socially/work, financially might be a different story), I'm the type that is always involved in something, Church, Texas Exes, whatever, so I'm sure I'll find something to keep me social and keep my brain engaged. My father on the other hand, I don't know what to do with him.
He's 73 and literally, I think his brain is atrophying and has been for some time. He last held a full time job when he was 49. He got laid off and financially secure enough that he could just do some consulting on the side, which he did on and off for about 8 years. He finally admitted he was retired around 2002. His last full time job was as CFO of a fairly large jewelry manufacturer. He got canned shortly before it went in the toilet. He could have found another full time job and worked easily another 10 years at his max earning capacity, but like I said, he didn't need to. Instead, he and my mom bought a travel trailer and they traveled anywhere from 3-6 months a year as the consulting became less and less. They loved those trips and as he likes to tell it, hit 46 of the lower 48, plus several parts of Canada.
I could see that his mental capacity was decreasing even then. Outside of managing his investments and planning his next trip, he just didn't have any intellectual stimulation. He eventually started volunteering with the AARP to do taxes (he's a CPA). That's good, but it's only about 6 weeks total a year. Part of me has always felt that it was a mistake for him to retire so early, regardless of how much they enjoyed their travel, but then my mom died about 2 years ago. She'd been sick for close to 2 years (F Cancer). In retrospect, if he had worked until 65, they'd have been a hell of a lot richer, but they would have only had 2-3 years of travel time.
Would his brain be in better shape? Almost definitely, but is that worth not having those nearly 20 years of travel? If he was objective enough to admit what's going on with his brain, I think he'd say it was worth it.
The question though is what to do with him now? He's spent 2 years liquidating his house in anticipation of moving .... somewhere. He wants to be near a university so he can attend cultural and intellectual things, but he really doesn't like Austin, where he actually would have a good in on those things. My brother and I have contemplated involving him more in our business (Home building), but he doesn't want a full time job and frankly with his speed, or lack there of, combined with his propensity to launch into hour long stories, I'm not sure we could survive his help! He alternatively berates us for 'never taking his advice' or 'not asking for his help', when in reality we did ask for his help a couple times and only once was he really interested.
So, yeah, not sure what to do with him. Haven't read through this thread yet as its fairly long, but I'm going to and see if maybe I can pick up some ideas. I fell like his brain would recover if he were simply engaged in something, as his physical health is largely fine.